Posts tagged with "starneth":

After delays of almost a year, Staten Island's giant Ferris wheel is finally back on track. Earlier this month, the aggrieved parties reached a deal in court that allows construction on the New York Wheel to move forward.
The New York Wheel hired Holland's Mammoet-Starneth to design and engineer the 630-foot-tall North Shore amusement, which sits steps away from the ferry drop-off in St. George. According to the Staten Island Advance, the company left the job on May 26, 2017, and it filed for bankruptcy five months ago. The New York Wheel fired Mammoet-Starneth from the job soon after. The two entities started mediation in March, but they weren't able to come to an agreement in court—until now.
Among its key provisions, the new agreement vacates the lawsuit between the two companies and lets the New York Wheel hire a new contractor to finish the job. It has selected American Bridge and ARUP, the construction company and the massive engineering firm, respectively. Per the agreement, the New York Wheel has until early September to scrounge up financing for the venture—and it can cut loose from the deal if it can't find the money. So far, the company has raised $400 million of the wheel's $580 million estimated cost from investors, but at this point the New York Wheel is mum on how much of that money has been spent.
On the New York Wheel's website, S9 Architecture and Perkins Eastman are listed as the architects behind the project.
The wheel is supposed to be a supposed to be a draw for New Yorkers and tourists alike, many of whom are predicted to descend upon the adjacent Empire Outlets, the city's first outlet mall. SHoP Architects is designing that complex, which is slated for completion this fall.

The New York Wheel may be back on track.
The giant Ferris wheel on Staten Island made news last month when it was revealed that wheel designers Mammoet-Starneth left the job after a pay dispute with the developer, New York Wheel LLC.
Apparently, the firm is in "advanced negotiation" with another company to get the ball rolling (wheel turning?) again. To finish the project, the developer has partnered with the American Bridge Company, the same folks behind the new Tappan Zee Bridge, the Las Vegas High Roller observation wheel, and the Empire State Building, way back in the day.
"As part of that transition, the cranes previously provided by Mammoet are not required and will be removed from the [project] site in order to make way for replacement equipment," said Cristyne Nicholas, spokesperson for the NewYorkWheel, in an emailed statement.
She added that work on the terminal building is ongoing and that the NewYorkWheel will announce a new completion date "in the near future.”
Stay tuned.

Update 7/18/17: This article originally misstated the name of the retail complex under construction on Staten Island. It is Empire Outlets, not Empire Stores.Update 7/19/17: This article originally named S9 as design architect and Perkins Eastman as architect-of-record for the New York Wheel. The two firms are associated architects on the project.
It looks like plans for a giant Ferris wheel on Staten Island have ground to a halt.
Court papers reveal the designers, Mammoet-Starneth, left the job in May after a pay dispute with the developer. Now, plans for the New York Wheel are on hold.
The 630-foot-tall structure—slated to be the largest wheel in the Western Hemisphere—is in easy walking distance of the St. George Ferry terminal on Staten Island's north shore. The project, part of a $1.6 billion waterfront revitalization plan intended to lure tourists to the borough, is adjacent to the Staten Island Yankees (minor league baseball) stadium as well as Empire Outlets, a SHoP-designed retail complex that will be New York City's first outlet mall when it opens in 2018.
New York firms Perkins Eastman and S9 Architecture are officially credited as associated architects on the project.
The Ferris wheel was supposed to open this year, but court papers reveal a number of compromising problems for the $600 million project, the New York Postreports. The developer, New York Wheel, alleges the designers, who are based in the Netherlands, missed many deadlines and have breached their $165 million contract. The two sides agreed to a 30-day mediation period that began June 12, though a construction livestream on the S9's webpage shows no activity at the job site. Opening day, the Post says, has been moved to spring 2018.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, details a number of issues with the project on both sides. Costs have doubled from an initial estimate of $300 million, and all this money didn't stop city inspectors from noting poor welding on the wheel's main legs, a major defect that has pushed back the approvals timeline. The base pad that the Ferris wheel sits on is faulty, too, while the wheel and the pad are attached incorrectly. The developers say Starneth, the same firm behind the London Eye, didn't use a manufacturer for the wheel's legs from the Department of Building's approved list, leading to a delay in approvals. In turn, the designers claim New York Wheel provided a bad pad for their wheel.

Architecture firm S9, a division of Perkins Eastman, is moving ahead with plans for the New York Wheel, what will soon take shape as an enormous Ferris wheel on the Staten Island waterfront.
https://youtu.be/eeIobTnXp-4
According to development watch-blog Yimby, construction cranes have appeared on the Staten Island site of what will one day be the largest Ferris wheel of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
Perkins Eastman says the wheel is "designed as a composition of geometric forms clad with vertical terracotta fins, strategically interrupted by terraces, ramps, and stairways that are inspired by the juxtaposition of the surrounding foliage and the rock formations at the Palisades Sill"
The wheel design and manufacturing will be fronted Mammoet-Starneth, which specializes in giant wheel construction. The company also worked on the London Eye, built along the River Thames in 1999. Additional plans for a similar project in Dubai are also in the pipeline.
In 2012, the London Eye was, according to David Marks of Marks Barfield Architects, "the most visited paid-for attraction" in the UK and third in Europe after the Eiffel Tower and Disneyland Paris. The New York Wheel has similar aspirations, but its success hinges on whether visitors will opt to take the five-mile, free ferry ride from Lower Manhattan. Keeping tourists on Staten Island has been a long standing issue for New York City officials, according to the New York Times. "Every year, two million tourists ride the Staten Island Ferry, and yet most of them never leave the terminal," the newspaper reported.
Aiming to be open seven days a week and 350 days a year, the wheel would operate from 10:00a.m. through 10:00p.m. or midnight, staying open until 2:00a.m. on special occasions. It can also accommodate up to 1,440 people per ride which the New York Wheel website equates to over four million rides a year.
This will be made possible by the deceptively large "pods" that will carry up to 40 passengers each up 630 feet into the sky giving them an uninterrupted view onto manhattan and over the island. The pods will be predominantly glass which should facilitate sweeping panoramic views and be safely secured to the wheel itself by what looks to be a steel structure.
Similar to the London Eye, the New York Wheel will resemble that of a bicycle wheel when viewed from distance. Though it is not known yet, Starneth is likely to emulate the ever-moving structure in London which traveled at a leisurely 0.6 mph.
During the London Eye project, Marks told WNYC that getting financial backing was the toughest part of the project. However, Rich Marin, president and chief executive of the New York Wheel, told the New York Times that this will not be an issue for the wheel. Goldman Sachs is funding the project with $130 million in capital.
The landmark wheel isn't the only project set to adorn the island's North Shore Waterfront. Covered by AN in 2012, the wheel will be accompanied by a 1,100 square foot space for Empire Outlets by SHoP Architects in collaboration with Lee Weintraub Landscape Architects. According to New York Daily News, the outlet will be home to household names such as "Nordstrom Rack, H&M, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic Factory Store, Guess Factory Store and food options such as Starbucks, Nathan's and Applebee's."
At a ceremony in April, Donald Capoccia, principal at BFC Partners, the developer behind the outlet project said, "Empire Outlets is a well-timed catalyst that will trigger the transformation of the North Shore and position Staten Island for sustained growth into the foreseeable future."
The New York Daily Newsreported that developer BFC Partners and the New York Wheel will be required to cough up "$2.5 million a year in rent to the city for the land and pay $300,000 to maintain the area, including the waterfront esplanade."